This invention relates to a dental impression tray, and more particularly to a disposable dental impression tray having a tray body provided with a handle which is separately made and fixedly attached to the tray body.
In order to make an artificial tooth or teeth, or a denture, dentists usually first require a denture model. In order to make a denture model, a tray is used to take an impression of the configuration of the teeth of which the model is required. Conventionally, such a denture model is formed by the impression left in a dental impression tray filled with a self-hardening, gum-like compound; filled impression tray is inserted into the mouth and around the teeth before the compound has hardened; after the compound has hardened, the impression tray and hardened compound are pulled away from the teeth; the impressions made by the teeth in the hardened compound form a mold. A model material, such as a plaster, is cast in the impressions left in the mold, to obtain a denture model. As soon as the denture model has been obtained, the mold is removed from the tray and discarded, and the impression tray is used again.
Conventionally, the impression tray is made of a metal such as stainless steel; it is therefore relatively expensive. It has a tray body provided with a handle integrally formed with the tray body, when a number of impression trays are stacked together, they become bulky, particularly so if the handle is bent into a prescribed shape. Furthermore, as the impression tray is repeatedly used, it must be cleaned and sterilized each time it is re-used. Such a cleaning and sterilizing process is troublesome.
Therefore, it is the main object of this invention to present an improved dental impression tray which is relatively cheap and disposable.
It is another object of this invention to present an improved dental impression tray which has a tray body provided with a handle which is separately made, so that multiple tray bodies and handles can be separately stacked in storage to avoid bulkiness; the handle is fixedly attached to the tray body when the impression tray is to be used.